


Living and Learning

by VioletTeaTime



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Adorable Cisco Ramon, Deaf Hartley Rathaway, Good Hartley Rathaway, Hartley Rathaway is on Team Flash, Homelessness, M/M, Past Domestic Violence, Police Brutality, Protests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletTeaTime/pseuds/VioletTeaTime
Summary: Cisco doesn't know Hartley, not really.-Five things Cisco learns about Hartley, and the one thing he learns about himself.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	Living and Learning

**Author's Note:**

> IM A SUCKER FOR THESE TWO !! ive had a harrisco draft for like a month but wanted to work on this instead,,,  
> hartley is repped as having processing issues after the explosion while still having his advanced hearing. born mostly deaf and forced by his parents to get a cochlear on his right ear.  
> uh.... i call hartley older a few times but im writing them as though cisco is 23 and hartley is 24 so its just,,, an adjective to have...

1\. _deafness_

After their first few spats, Hartley and Cisco rarely spoke. They worked on different parts of the particle accelerator, and when Hartley was fired, Cisco hadn't given him a second thought. That was, of course, until he became a supervillain hellbent on getting revenge, and since had somehow become a part of their team, helping Barry and Cisco. 

They were sitting in relative silence, Hartley having taken over a small corner of Cisco's workshop for his own about a month after he had officially joined the STAR Labs team. Barry had offered him any empty room to make his own, but Hartley said he felt more comfortable working around others, and so he was tucked into the small room, desk facing the door. Cisco tinkered on a side project of his, a droid meant to help clean the lab, while Hartley worked on his gloves, small pieces scattered across the white desk.

"Hey, you can play some music if you want. I left my phone in the cortex."

"Hmm?" Hartley looked up at him, eyes wide and doe-like. 

"You can play music if you want."

"Oh. No, I'm fine." The brunette ran his hand through his hair, looking at Cisco from across the room. "Unless you'd rather I put some on." His voice always had an edge to it, Cisco noted, but he seemed to be getting better at not sounding like a raging dick all the time.

"If you don't mind. The quiet is a bit... much." Hartley nodded sharply, pulling his phone out of his pocket. A few seconds later, instrumental music flowed out of the speaker on his desk, soft violin and light flute notes hanging in the air. Cisco watched as Hartley tapped the rhythm on his desk with his screwdriver.

"This is the most pretentious music I've ever heard." He chuckled slightly before meeting the other man's eyes. Hartley had his eyebrows drawn together, half-obscured by his glasses rim. 

"I'm sorry, Cisquito, I just find your voice unbearable to listen to. What did you say?"

"Asshole. I called you pretentious."

"You're not wrong. I learned this piece in my high school band, however, so I'd say... it's average pretentiousness."

"Your private high school band, now that's pretentious." Cisco smiled, watching the corner of Hartley's lips turn up, creating a dimple just under one of the more prominent moles on his face.

"I feel as though all high school bands are similar, ours was just better funded. Music unites people." He straightened up from his desk, holding his gloves out in front of him. "This piece could be played by the homeless or the overprivilaged. It can be listened to by rich bastards like my parents or by school children."

"I guess I never thought of that."

"There's a reason for the flute design on my gauntlets. Music, sound. It's a beautiful, powerful thing." Hartley ran his fingertips over the delicate looking keys of the gloves.

"I assumed it was for the aesthetic." Cisco sat on his desk, keeping his eyes trained on Hartley. It was nice to see the man opening up, even if it had taken quite some time.

"I was born nearly deaf. I don't think my parents allowed that to be public knowledge. I was given a cochlear implant to... fix me, as my father would say. Back then, I saw it as a gift. Hearing. Now I hear so much that I don't know what I prefer." He placed the gloves back on his desk, crossing his arms over his turtleneck. Cisco took a deep breath.

"Shit, Hart. I didn't know that was going on."

"How could you? It's not as though I've addressed it. I didn't make use of my implant when I worked at STAR Labs initially, I didn't want people to see me as weaker for my...issue. I can't figure out how to utilize it with my neutralizing aids, so I don't wear anything that would expose it." He shrugged, a hand going up to absentmindedly rub the spot that Cisco assumed was where the implant lay.

"We can work on one. Together. Maybe get something working, show a little deaf pride." Hartley's face softened, his lips creasing into a gentle smile.

"I think I'd like that.

2\. _police_

The protest was supposed to be peaceful. There had been a police brutality instance in Central two days prior, a young gay man beaten by a cop, and hundreds of people had flocked downtown, ready with signs and flags, uniting. Cisco had been watching coverage from the cortex when everything went to shit, a meta showing up and causing a hailstorm that killed four people and injured hundreds. He had breached there and helped out with as many people as he could, breaching them to the hospital or getting supplies while Barry and Wally took down the meta. 

They got so sidetracked that they didn't realize they couldn't contact Hartley.

-

He showed up later, of course. The meta had attacked around noon, and most of the team had gone back to STAR Labs by four after transferring the meta to Iron Heights and helping civilians. At six, Hartley walked into the cortex with three boxes of pizza and a black eye, small gashes on his face. Cisco was the first to notice him, and nearly dropped his goggles when he got a good look at the older man's face.

"Holy Hippogriff, what happened?" He reached up to touch Hartley's face before pulling his hand away. They weren't there yet in their friendship, not really. Hartley sighed, putting the boxes down on the table.

"I was at the protest, I didn't have my gauntlets to fight back." He sighed, reaching up to pick at a scab on his chin. Cisco grabbed his wrist, pulling his hand away from it. 

"You were... you were?" Hartley didn't seem like someone to fight against cops, not to Cisco. Hartley had been raised by a strict, white, Catholic family with more money than they knew what to do with. It seemed only right that Hartley would be conservative, if not a Republican.

"Yeah." Hartley shuffled the pizza boxes around, putting two out for the rest of the team, and opening the smallest one, presumably the only vegan option. He looked down at the meal for a moment before meeting Cisco's eyes. They stood in silence for a moment, Cisco watching as the other's eyes began to brim with tears.

"Hart? Are you okay?" He moved his hand to Hartley's arm, figuring that Hartley would tell him if he didn't want to be touched. Instead, he leaned into Cisco's touch like a cat, shaking his head. Cisco wrapped his arms around him, feeling his shoulders shake with quiet tears.

"I'm sorry." Hartley's voice was barely a whisper as he bent his neck to rest his head on Cisco's shoulder, melting into the embrace. Cisco moved a hand up to gently brush his hand through Hartley's hair.

"Hey, hey. You don't have to be sorry. It must have been scary." Hartley hiccuped, nodding into Cisco's body. His heart felt heavy, holding a man who was usually so composed as he cried. "What happened?"

"It just... there were church groups screaming at us and it just.... and then the meta and... people were pushing and shoving and it just..." He gestured his hands, pulling fists apart and down. Hartley only ever repeated himself like that when he was really stressed, and Cisco nodded, letting him deflate against his body. 

"I'm sorry. We all should have been there to defend the protesters." Cisco's stomach felt like it had been flipped upside down, guilt eating away at his guts.

"The cops didn't do _anything_." His voice cracked, and he sniffled. "And I know, _Paco_ _I know_ , that we trust Joe and Barry but... I don't trust cops. I can't." Wally had found his way over to them by that point, dark eyebrows brought close together. Cisco looked down at Hartley's sunken form, before looking back up at Wally. The younger man gently rubbed his hand over Hartley's shoulder.

"Hey bro, why don't we go eat this and talk about it, huh?" Hartley pulled himself off of Cisco, rubbing at his darkened eye under the lens of his glasses.

"Yes please." Wally nodded and took the pizza box into one hand, Hartley latching himself onto his other arm. Cisco watched as they left the room, Wally muttering so quietly Cisco was sure Hartley was the only person who would be able to understand what he was saying.

He turned back to the large computer screen, taking a piece of pizza and rewinding the tv, deciding to rewatch the footage of the protest. 

-3 _abuse_

Two weeks later finds Cisco walking into the cortex to find Barry and Joe talking to a frazzled looking Hartley, the freckled man in a pair of music note pyjama pants and a STAR Labs sweater, short hair defying gravity in the worst way. Cisco set down his tray of smoothies as Hartley sighed loudly, making his way over to them. He pulled out the fancy one he had asked for, drinking from the straw for a few moments before even looking at Cisco.

"Thanks."

"Hart, you look like shit." Hartley chuckled, leaning back against the desk.

"You're one to talk. What're you wearing?" Cisco looked down at his shirt.

"It's from Steven Universe!"

"You're a grown man." Hartley's smug grin was almost enough to make Cisco forget what a mess the other was.

"So what's the deal with you? Are we no longer going to be graced with you wearing actual clothes?" Cisco froze for a second after he stopped talking. Hartley without wearing actual clothes. That was... _an image_.

Hartley sighed, seeming to fold in on himself slightly. Barry and Joe were still talking where they had been when Cisco walked in, shifting paper work between the two of them.

"My ex boyfriend broke our restraining order last night, so Joe thinks I need to stay here for a few days to make sure Brock doesn't show up again." Hartley shrugged, as if it was nothing. Cisco's mouth gaped for a minute as he tried to think of what to say. "You're going to catch flies, Paco."

"You can stay with me." Hartley turned to him, tongue circling around the straw of his smoothie.

"Hmm?"

"Stay with me. My futon is way more comfortable than the surgical bed here. And, uh, it's probably safer to be around someone with powers than alone." Hartley put the cup down, looking at Cisco for a long moment.

"You'd do that for me?"

"You're one of the good guys now, aren't you?" 

"I guess."

-

Cisco breached Hartley into his apartment to let the older man grab what he needed to spend a few days away from the space. Hartley's apartment was small but immaculate, old books in perfect rows in the book case, every table clear and clean. He had a case of the deafeners Cisco and him had created on the kitchen table and a Star Wars blanket over the couch, the only things that made the room not look like a show house. It seemed void of any life, and when Cisco walked into the living room, he could see that most of the furniature looked old, yet nearly untouched. Cisco sat on one of the stools by the kitchen, reading a fanfiction on his phone while Hartley shuffled about in his bedroom, occasionally cussing just loud enough for Cisco to hear.

Eventually, Hartley reemerged in a button down and fitted dress pants, hauling two bags over his bony shoulders. He huffed a little as he walked, looking around to see if he forgot anything. Cisco cleared his throat.

"Your house isn't very...homey." Hartley shrugged, placing one of the bags on the floor by his feet.

"Everything has its place, so it stays there. I'm assuming I'll be walking into a hellscape, then." He crossed over to the bookshelf, and of all things, pulled a comic book out of it.

"You act so high and mighty that I forget you're a closet nerd." Hartley snorted, holding the book close to his chest.

"I'll have you know I'm not a closet _anything_. Spent sixteen years inside of a closet, I refuse to be quiet about anything now."

"Yeah, Hart. I know."

-

Cisco's place, as Hartley had assumed, was a fucking disaster. There's shit everywhere, it's astounding to even Cisco at times that he owns that much stuff. When Barry had stayed with him, he had helped to keep it clean, but now that Cisco had the space for himself again... hell had broken loose. The breach opened overtop a pile of blankets on Cisco's small living room floor, and Hartley tripped, catching himself on the table in front of him.

"Jesus H. Christ, clean your house!" The brunette hissed, looking back at Cisco with glasses sliding down his nose.

"First of all, it's a condo. And I'll clean it, I just haven't had time." Cisco sighed, picking up the two blankets. He folded one over the arm of the couch, and placed the other under the table as Hartley looked over the photos that lined one of Cisco's walls.

"You and your brothers don't look alike at all." Cisco squinted across the room, trying to find what photo Hartley was looking at.

"That's because those are my cousins. My brothers and I are in the white frame."

"Oh." Cisco sat on the couch, looking up at Hartley. He had his shoulders drawn close to his body, hugging his arms around his stomach.

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" Hartley shuffled into the closest chair, looking down.

"The fact that you are actively hiding from an ex boyfriend? That you have a _restraining order_ on an ex boyfriend? Hartley, man, you need to feel like you can talk to us. Maybe not Barry or Joe, but Caitlin or Wally or me." Hartley picked at his nails.

"Okay, so I'm just supposed to tell you that I had a boyfriend who put his fist through my wall when I spilled water on the couch?" Hartley chuckled sadly, shaking his head. "I don't do the whole openness thing everyone else seems to enjoy so much. I dated Brock just after I was fired from STAR Labs by Harrison-Eobard. Eobard." The name slipped out in an uncomfortable manner. "He was good at first. I was emotional and angry and he calmed me, it felt like he was grounding me. And when I started to get more emotionally stable he... went the other way. I didn't think of it as abuse until after he broke my wrist."

"Hart-"

"Paco, just... don't. It's okay now. I'm safe here, I know that."

-4 _a home_

Cisco's condo was the place where the team most often hung out. It was close to the lab, within walking distance for those without super speed or breaching powers, and it was homey. Lived in, as Cisco would say, with the scratched coffee table and creased sofa. Hartley, surprisingly, spent the most time there. His place was in a rough part of town, and well... They liked being around each other.

After Hartley lived with Cisco for a week, they began to click together more. Hartley cooked, Cisco washed dishes. At the lab, they danced around each other, working on equipment with gentle banter or comfortable silence. Cisco would bring Hartley a tea, and the older man would go out of his way to get the cookies Cisco liked from the bakery between his place and the lab.

It didn't surprise Cisco when he walked into the condo to find Hartley already mussing about the kitchen, speaking loudly on the phone. He had never given Hartley a key, but that didn't stop him from getting in.

"I get that. Yes, ma'am. Can you repeat-Yes, that part." Hartley poked his head around the corner and waved when he saw Cisco. "Okay, yes. I'll see you tomorrow. Yes. Goodbye." Cisco placed his keys on the wall hook as Hartley swore.

"Hey, freckles. What was that about?" The older man sighed, leaning his elbows against the kitchen island in front of him.

"My landlady. When I moved in, I was totally broke so she spotted me for the first while and now she acts like I still owe her, I've paid her back and run just about a million errands. I was eighteen when I got that place. Six years, I don't know why I still live in that shithole." He picked up a slice of pear from a plate, and Cisco helped himself to one as well.

"You didn't live in student dorms?"

"My scholarship didn't include housing, and it was after I had been estranged from my parents for a length of time. Her rent was the cheapest in the area, and I had been working for minimum wage ever since I was kicked out. It seemed like a good choice at the time." He sighed, leaning towards Cisco. "She wants me to give her grandson a piano lesson tomorrow, but they don't have a piano."

"How's that supposed to work?"

"Hell if I know." Cisco patted his arm before reaching behind him to get a Harry Potter mug off of the shelf. 

"You should move out." Hartley's face scrunched up, and he shook his head.

"It's hard to find a place that's comfortable for me with my hearing, and that I can casually be a crime fighting vigilante from." Cisco looked the man up and down, taking in his choice of sweatpants and oversized hoodie, which looked suspiciously like one of Cisco's.

"You're comfortable here, we could be roomies? I'll clear out the office space and then..." Hartley scoffed, folding his arms over his chest.

"You really want to live with me? Paco, half the time you want to slit my throat.

"Yeah, but the other half is fun. Just... think about it."

-

Hartley does think about it, and three days later, Cisco is clearing out the office space for Hartley. He opened a breach into an empty room in the lab, moving everything but the bookshelf and the desk into the empty space. He swept the floor as Hartley drove over, saying that he only had about ten boxes, which would fit easily in his car. Most of what Hartley brought over was clothes and books, a few assorted knick knacks as well. He had scarce decorations, and no bed.

"The futon belonged to the landlady, I'll get a bed tomorrow." He looked down as he spoke. 

"You've been sleeping on a futon for six years? No wonder you're a dick, you've never had a good sleep." Hartley sneered at him, reaching into one of the boxes.

"I never said it was ideal." He turned away, shuffling about the boxes. Cisco lined the bookshelves with Hartley's Harry Potter collection, a full set of novels for every language he spoke, which nearly filled the whole unit.

"Dude, why didn't you ever get yourself a bed? Futons suck." Hartley didn't respond, and Cisco turned to see him trying to center his map of Middle Earth. "Hart?"

"Did you speak?"

"Yeah. Why didn't you get a bed?" Hartley turned to face him, irritation clear on his face.

"I'm not sure, I'm bad at taking care of myself. The futon came with the place, and I was penny pinching to get by in school. Then I got in at STAR, and every hour I wasn't sleeping I was there. And then after the particle accelerator..." He made a thumbs up with each hand, angling them out. He drew his hands together, bumping the right one in front of the left for a moment before opening his hands, pulling them apart in a swift motion.

"Uh... I don't know that one yet."

"Everything. Everything happened."

-

Harley slept with him that night after they argued. Cisco wanted to take the couch to allow Hartley to get a better sleep, and Hartley couldn't allow that to happen. Cisco faced the closet doors, trying hard not to think about the very attractive man laying a foot away from him. 

"Cisco?"

"Mm?" He heard shifting behind him.

"I haven't slept in a bed since I was sixteen. Thank you."

-5 _rats_

They didn't visit Mercury Labs regularly, but every trip seemed to go sideways in some way. Cisco just never guessed it would be Hartley that instigated something. Doctor McGee had been researching the use of sonic technology in relation to the treatment of kidney cancers, and had asked for the help of Barry and Hartley. Barry was one of the only people who, on his own, could create sonic energy, and Hartley was an expert on creating technology with targeted sound waves. She had extended the invitation to the entire lab, which was why Cisco had joined them, eager to see what Tina was working on.

She had shown them the lab, and spoken to each of them for quite a while. Hartley helped her with understanding the concentration of certain frequencies, and Barry had, well, run really fast. While Barry did his thing, Hartley and Cisco had wandered off, trying to get a glimpse of other projects the lab was working on. They sped through the mechanical engineering lab, finding that they had been making similar technology for years. Hartley froze as they entered the biochemical lab, eyes wide.

"Hartley?"

"Lab rats." He shook his head, gesturing to a small cage with two rats, one white with pink eyes, and the other a dark grey. Hartley cooed at them, slipping his pinkie between the bars.

"Woah, I thought they were cruelty free here. I mean, they should be." Cisco looked around the lab, trying to see if he could find any more. 

"Look at them, Paco. People underestimate rats, but they're smart. And sweet. They're just like every other animal, just misunderstood." Cisco nodded, pulling Hartley along.

-

Barry got a call later from Doctor McGee, which he sounded very confused the whole time he responded to her. Cisco figured that Barry just sounded confused all the time, continuing to work on mending his suit. Hartley, strangely, had gone home after going to the lab, saying that he wasn't feeling great. Cisco knew he was lying, Hartley never got sick. It wasn't until he got home that Cisco knew why.

-

"You can't keep them!"

"I can and I will." Cisco had knocked on Hartley's door before walking in, finding the man running his hand over a white rat, a large cage already set up on his desk. The darker rat was squeaking, running on a wheel. The enclosure looked great, Cisco had to admit.

"Hartley, they're lab animals! What if they've already been tested on?" Hartley shrugged, putting the white rat back in the enclosure.

"Then Draco and Harry will live out their last days in peace." Cisco sighed, but sat down on Hartley's desk chair, looking in on the rats.

"I can't believed you named them that." Hartley smiled, a small 'hmph' sound coming out of his chest. He leaned on the back of his chair, resting his chin on Cisco's shoulder.

"Aren't they cute?"

"Yeah."

"Rats are seen as vermin, when they're actually good pets. I can relate." 

Cisco didn't want to think too hard on that one.

+1 _confidence_

Cisco liked Hartley. He realized that he liked him as a friend about two months after he joined STAR Labs again, deciding to let go of his years-long grudge against the other man, but he didn't realize that he _liked_ Hartley until he had moved in.

Hartley napped a lot. He would fall asleep for cat naps, only twenty or thirty minutes at a time, and Cisco would throw a blanket over him, making sure he didn't get cold. Cisco stopped buying cow's milk, exchanging it for the almond milk Hartley liked, even if he found it was more chalky, which had made Hartley smile. 

When Cisco looked for it, Hartley smiled a lot. Even when he tried to be disapproving, or hide it, the smallest of grins would appear on his face. He often laughed without sound, or with just huffs of air. 

Hartley settled into the couch beside him, putting his bag of chips between them. Cisco looked up from his comic book, and Hartley took that as the moment he was allowed to lean over and rest against Cisco, opening his Japanese copy of Frankenstein up. Cisco tentatively placed an arm around Hartley, and when he wasn't met with any snide comment, it remained there. 

These were sweet moments they had, they never spoke of them, but they were common. Hartley was a touchy person at times, and Cisco was more than happy to oblige with any hug or cuddle he got. Hartley made Cisco feel good about himself. People Cisco had spent a lot of time with in the past, Dante, Barry, Lisa, had all found a way to make Cisco even more insecure, but Hartley...

They bickered, they argued. Hartley might call Cisco an idiot once in a while, and Cisco might call Hartley an asshole every few days. But they respected each other. Hartley would compliment Cisco's hair, reaching out to fluff it or pull a curl away, asking to braid it when he needed to do something with his hands. Hartley would cuddle up with him, laying his head on the softness of Cisco's stomach, never mentioning his weight. 

Hartley made Cisco feel smart, the two men throwing ideas back and forth. He made him feel seen, always reading his lips when the team all spoke at once so he could get Cisco's ideas first. He made him feel appreciated, getting the cookies Cisco liked from the bakery downtown after an especially good bust or a big hug when a tough project went right.

Hartley made Cisco feel loved.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! i know the hartmon tag will be flooded this month bc its hartmon fest (!!!!) so thank you for taking time to read my little work! please drop a comment or a like below!  
> tumblr - @violetteatime  
> 


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